Barca goalkeeper Stegen out for six weeks due to knee injury

Madrid: Spanish club FC Barcelona will be without goalkeeper Ter Stegen for around six weeks after the club confirmed that the German has suffered a knee injury.

The club announced on Thursday that Stegen has a twisted interior ligament in his left knee, a stroke of misfortune which came at just the wrong time, three days before the first leg of the Spanish Supercup and 10 days before the kick off of the new Spanish league season in which Barcelona will defend their title, reports Xinhua.

The German has been substitute to Claudio Bravo in the Spanish league during his two seasons at the club, but had been first choice in Cup and Champions league matches with Bravo dropping to the bench. The 24-year-old keeper had stated that he wanted to play in the league this season and the issue of who should be first choice keeper at Barcelona has been an ongoing debate for a while among the press and Barcelona supporters and he was strongly linked with a move away from the Camp Nou Stadium this summer in his quest for more minutes.

It was thought he was due to start in the first leg of the Supercup away to Spain’s oldest football club Sevilla on Sunday, but Stegen’s injury now means Bravo has the perfect opportunity to stake his claim to be coach Luis Enrique’s first choice keeper for a third consecutive campaign. –IANS